Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman greets his players after the Aggies scored against Texas during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game at Kyle Field Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in College Station.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman greets his players after the...

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Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman calls out a play during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game at Kyle Field Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in College Station. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )

COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman, in strolling out the Aggies' Bright Football Complex on Thursday, told an A&M player he was hitting the road to Houston for a recruiting trip. Even then and amid speculation his job was in jeopardy, Sherman appeared optimistic about his future with the Aggies.

By that evening, Sherman had been pulled off the road by his superiors - and informed he was out of a job. In a surprising and abrupt move, A&M fired the 25-25 over four seasons Shermanon Thursday night. His dismissal came a week after the Aggies lost to Texas 27-25 on a last-second field goal at Kyle Field, in the last scheduled meeting of the rivals.

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A&M entered its most anticipated season this century with 18 returning starters from a 9-4 team, and was ranked seventh nationally before blowing five large leads en route to a 6-6 regular-season finish. Meanwhile anger among Aggies seemed to grow, not diminish, in the wake of the stunning loss to UT on A&M's home field.

"Decisions of this nature are never easy, and I appreciate the patience of Aggies everywhere as we carefully evaluated the current state of our football program and the prospects for the future," A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said in a statement. "Coach Sherman has created a solid foundation for Texas A&M to build upon."

A day earlier, A&M athletic director Bill Byrne had voiced his support for Sherman in Byrne's weekly online address, asking fans to "remember that our coaches and players put us in a position to win all our games this season."

The decision to fire Sherman was made above Byrne, and Byrne released a statement Thursday praising Sherman's tenure.

"He is truly one of the great offensive minds in football, both collegiate and professional, and I know that he has much to offer the game of football in the future," Byrne wrote.

Byrne getting down to business

Byrne said he expects to meet with Sherman's assistants today and peg an interim coach for A&M's bowl game later this month. The Aggies likely will play in either the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Reliant Stadium or the Pinstripe Bowl in New York. A&M's top targets to replace Sherman appear to be Houston's Kevin Sumlin, Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, Southern Mississippi's Larry Fedora and Louisville's Charlie Strong.

Sherman, a former Green Bay Packers head coach and general manager, became A&M's 28th head football coach nearly four years earlier. He had spent 2006-07 with the Texans, the last season serving as their offensive coordinator.

Sherman, a one-time A&M assistant under R.C. Slocum, started his Aggies head coaching career with a shocking loss to Arkansas State in 2008, and was 10-15 over his first two seasons. But last year the Aggies closed out the regular season with six consecutive victories - including triumphs over Oklahoma, Nebraska and UT - in what will serve as his highlight over an otherwise unremarkable A&M tenure.

"Integrity, honor, accountability, faith, brotherhood and my definition of the Aggie spirit all came to me playing for Coach Sherman," Denver Broncos standout linebacker Von Miller posted on his Twitter account.

Last summer, A&M announced that Sherman received a one-year extension on his contract and a $400,000 annual pay bump, giving him four years remaining on his original seven-year dea to push his annual salary from $1.8 million to $2.2 million.

But Loftin spokesman Jason Cook said Thursday that the new deal exchanged hands between attorneys for some time, and "Dr. Loftin didn't receive the final document until late October." Cook said the new deal was "never executed" -in other words, Loftin never signed it - and that A&M intends to pay the buyout under the original terms. The Aggies will owe about $1.8 million annually over the remaining three years of the original contract.

Not a fan of SEC move?

It didn't help Sherman's case that he never really publicly embraced the Aggies' impending exit from the Big 12 and shift to the Southeastern Conference, a move that Loftin spearheaded. Sherman was a no-show at the celebration announcing the SEC move, and over the following week even declined to address the long-term implications of the milestone move.

By then, A&M's most head-scratching season was at full throttle, as the Aggies inexplicably blew the big leads in all but one of their losses, and were outscored 76-7 in the third quarter of their defeats. Sherman also served as the team's offensive coordinator, and drew heat from fans for the typically high-scoring offense's second-half stalls.

Sherman's final recruiting visit was to touted Klein Forest quarterback Matt Davis on Thursday evening. Davis posted on his Twitter account afterward, "Coach Sherman just almost brought me to tears. I love that man. … The one thing I love about him is he said, 'Matt, A&M is a great place and I still think you should go there and do great things."

Sherman had pieced together his best recruiting class to date this year, a group led by Davis and running back Trey Williams of DeKaney that Rivals.com currently ranks eighth nationally. A&M intends to work swiftly in bringing a new coach onboard, partly with the intent of trying to keep the touted 2012 class together.

Meanwhile a handful of A&M's current players reacted with both sadness and anger at the news.

"Funny how all these decisions are made without thinking of the players," receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu posted on his Twitter account. "Funny how things work."